Method of and apparatus for gripping a fish for mechanical dressing

ABSTRACT

The fish is gripped and moved in vertical position suspended from its pectoral fins with its head pointing upwardly and its belly forwardly between parallel guide means forming parts of a reciprocating slide and being spreadable outwardly against the action of springs. The fish is moved between the guide means towards centering means arranged in the vertical midplane of the guide path piercing the gap formed between the collar bones of the fish and indenting its belly from the outside. Spring loaded back supporting means cooperating with the guide means snap in behind the thus centered fish engaging either side of it at its neck zone thereby firmly holding the same in a surprisingly simple yet reliable manner. The fish held in this position is moved with the slide towards and past cutter discs journalled in a machine frame and rotating in planes including approximately angles of 45* with and at either side of the vertical mid-plane of the guide path. The rotating cutter discs severe the head of the fish from its body during which operation the head is progressively bent backwardly, thereby gaining the lobes of meat disposed in the neck of the fish.

United States Patent Dohrendort [451 Aug. 1, 1972 [72] Inventor: FranzFriedrich Johannes Dohrendorf, Lubeck, Germany [73] Assignee: NordischerMaschinenbau Rud Baader, Lubeck, Germany [22] Filed: Aug. 13, 1969 [21]Appl. No; 849,739

[52] [1.8. Cl ..17/45, 17/55 [51] Int. Cl ..A22c 25/08 [58] Field orSearch ..17/52, 55, 63, 54, 45

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,123,853 3/1964 Radloff etal. ..17/63 2,546,346 3/1951 Oates ..17/54 2,959,810 11/1960 Cameron..17/63 Primary Examiner-Lucie H. Laudenslager Att0mey-Richards & Geier5 7] ABSTRACT The fish is gripped and moved in vertical positionsuspended from its pectoral fins with its head pointing upwardly and itsbelly forwardly between parallel guide means forming parts of areciprocating slide and being spreadable outwardly against the action ofsprings. The fish is moved between the guide means I towards centeringmeans arranged in the vertical midplane of the guide path piercing thegap formed between the collar bones of the fish and indenting its bellyfrom the outside. Spring loaded back supporting means cooperating withthe guide means snap in behind the thus centered fish engaging eitherside of it at its neck zone thereby firmly holding the same in asurprisingly simple yet reliable manner. The fish held in this positionis moved with the slide towards and past cutter discs journalled in amachine frame and rotating in planes including approximately angles of45 with and at either side of the vertical mid-plane of the guide path.The rotating cutter discs severe the head of the fish from its bodyduring which operation the head is progressively bent backwardly,thereby gaining the lobes of meat disposed in the neck of the fish.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING A FISHFOR MECHANICAL DRESSING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION body, slaughteringof the fish etc.

2. Description of the Prior Art According to a known method fortransporting fish in fish processing machines the fish is gripped at theforward bow of the jaw and advanced towards the guides and tooles of thefish processing machine. This method allows to grip the fish at the headin an unobjectionable manner, however is limited to fish of which thethroat has not been cut out and the head has not been removed yet.

Another known method for opening the abdomen cavity of not yetslaughtered fish provides that after severing its isthmus (theconnection between the lower ends of the collar bones and the rear endsof the lower jaw) the abdomen cavity is cut open along its entire lengthwhile supporting and providing a centered guidance in the interior ofthe abdomen cavity with the aid of the abutting ends of the collarbones. This method, indeed, allows exact alignment of the fish forslitting the belly, but not the gripping of the fish for removing thehead, slaughtering, or the like.

The broad object of this invention is to providea method for firmlygripping a fish in the zone of its collar bones and to hold the same ina predetermined position exactly aligned relative to the dressing tools.

A more defined object of this invention isto provide a method for firmlygripping a fish in the zone of its collar bones, holding the same in apredetermined vertical position suspended from below its pectoral finswith its head pointing upwardly and its belly forwardly towards thecutting tools and moving the same past the cutting tools so as to severeits head from the body in the region of its collar bones.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for dressinga fish, wherein it is firmly gripped in the region of its collar bonesand aligned in a predetermined position relative to the dressing tools.

Further objects and features of this invention will become apparent asthe description proceeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The method of gripping a fish in the region ofits collar bones according to the invention in its broadest aspectincludes the following steps:

a. centering a fish by indenting its abdominal integuments between thecollar bones from the outside;

b. aligning its sides symmetrically to the zone of impression; and

c. firmly gripping the fish by exerting pressure against either side ofits back in a direction towards the zone of indentation.

This method allows in a surprisingly simple manner to securely hold afish in a predetermined position aligned to any kinds of dressing toolsto perform working steps in the region of the collar bones and gills.

This method of gripping a fish may advantageously be used to severe thehead of the fish from its body in the region of its collar bonesproviding that the fish is suspended vertically from below its pectoralfins with its head pointing upwardly and is characterized by the steps:

a. manually rotating the fish about its longitudinal axis into aposition in which the gap formed between its collar bones at the bellyside is disposed between the suspension planes;

b. centering the fish in the gap formed between its collar bones byadvancing it in the direction of its belly side; and

c. firmly gripping the thus centered fish by exerting pressuresymmetrically against either side of its back adjacent the suspensionpoints in a direction towards the gap.

The apparatus for gripping a fish in the region of its collar bonesincludes in a known manner a pair of laterally pivotally supported guiderails arranged in parallel spaced relation to each other adapted to opensymmetrically relative to the vertical mid-plane of the guide rails andis characterized by the arrangement of a centering tip in the verticalmid-plane between the guide rails adjacent their upper edges, andopposed thereto between the guide rails a pair of back supports onemounted on each guide rail so as to open in unison.

The opening planes of guide rails and the back support may according tothe invention include an angle of approximately An advantageousembodiment for acommodating fish of different sizes provides that uponincreasing the space between the back supports their distance from thecentering tip will be increased simultaneously.

In order to allow movement of the centered and gripped fish theinvention provides that the guide rails, the back supports, and thecentering tip are arranged on a common reciprocating slide.

Another means for adapting the apparatus to different sizes of fishprovides that the centering tip is movable along the vertical mid-planebetween the guide rails against the force of a spring thereby varyingits distance from the back supports.

One exemplified embodiment according to this invention in itsapplication for removing the heads of fish shall now be described indetail in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of the apparatusaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the apparatus shown in FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is an end view.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Two cutter drive shafts 22, 23carrying cutter discs 24, 25 are journalled in a machine frame (notillustrated) and are driven in any suitable manner. The cutter discs arearranged in two planes inclined in a roof-like fashion to each other andincluding an angle of approximately 90.

Two guides 1, also rigidly arranged in the machine frame are extendingin parallel relation to each other and are each arranged between theplane of the cutter discs and the planes extending in parallel relationthereto including the axii of the cutter drive shafts. A slide 3arranged on the guides 1, is movable to and fro in any suitable manner.Brackets 20 are arranged at the rear end of the slide carrying aninversely V shaped belly support 21 .disposed closely above the cutterdiscs. A centering projection 19 extends forwardly from the upwardly andrearwardly obliquely extending forward edges 18 'of the belly support 21and forms a centering point disposed in the height of the ridge of thebelly support. A pair of bell crank levers 6, 7 each pivotally supportedon a pin 4, and 5 respectively, extending in parallel relation to theguides 1, are arranged at the forward end of the slide 3. Each bellcrank lever 6, 7 includes a substantially horizontally inwardlyextending arm 6a, and 7a respectively, and downwardly extending arm 6b,and 7b respectively, both arms of each .bell crank lever including anacute angle between them and of which the free end of one of thehorizontally extending arms 7a is formed as a fork 9 slideably engagedby a glide member 8 arranged at the free end of the other horizontallyextending arm 6a, thereby synchronizing the pivoting movement of thepair of bell crank levers 6, 7.

Each downwardly extending arm 6b, 7b of the bell crank lever 6, 7 isengage by the one end of a helical tension spring 11 secured with itsother end to the slide 3, thereby urging the downwardly extending arms6b and 7b of the bell crank levers 6 and 7 in a counterrotatingdirection towards each other. This movement is limited by a stop.arranged on the slide 3 and engaged by one of the horizontal arms 70 ofthe bell crank levers 6, 7.

At the free end of each of the downwardly extending arms 6b and 7b ofthe bell crank levers 6, 7 aguide plate 12, and 13 respectively, issecured. The guide plates 12 and 13 include an angle of substantially,90 between. each other, extending adjacent, in parallel closely spacedrelation above the planes of the cutter discs 24 and 25 and the sidesurfaces of the belly support 21. The guide plates 12 and 13 serve toinsert a fish, as shown in FIG. 1, and to this end the upper edges 14and 15 thereof converge in a direction towards the cutter discs 24,merging into parallel inner edges 16a and 17a of guide rails 16 and 17arranged symmetrically to the ridge 21a of the belly support 21. Theguide rails are forming integral portions of the guide plates 12 and 13.At their lower sides the guide plates 12 and 13 carry each a doublearmed lever-like back support 33, and 34 respectively, pivotallysupported on bolts 26, and 27 respectively, extending in the exem-Vplified embodiment perpendicularly to the planes of the guide plates.The free ends of the long lever arms 33a and 34a, which are pivoting inthe planes of the respective guide plates 12 and 13, extend into thefree space formed between the upper edges 16a and 17a of the guide rails16 and 17 and are urged upwardly by helical tension springs 29 arrangedbetween the free ends of the short arms 33b and 34b and the guide platesThe operation of the above described apparatus is as follows: The fish30 suitably gripped from the neck in its eye sockets and freelysuspended is pushed between the guide rails 16, 17 with its bellydirected forwardly in such a manner that it slides along its pectoralfins 31 until the centering point 19 pierces the gap formed between thecollar bones 32 inthe'rear of the gill cavity, while simultaneouslyimpressing the abdominal integuments. The back supports 33 and 34 arepivoted away from each other by the sides of the fish when beinginserted, and after the fish has been moved far enough will snap backinto their initial positions firmly gripping the fish at either sidesymmetrically to its middle plane, when it is now advanced towards therotating cutter discs 24 and 25 which severe the head from the body ofthe fish. Due to the different positions of the centering point 19 whichis disposed above the upper edges of the guide rails 16 and 17 and ofthe free ends of the back supports 33 and 34 which are disposed belowthe guide rails 16a and 17a a bending moment is exerted on the head ofthe fish while being severed, causing the head to increasingly pivottowards the neck during the cutting operation whereby the lobe of meatin the neck is gained in an ideal manner regardless of the size of thefish. At the-end of the advance movement of the slide the head of thefish slides down a chute (not shown) arranged below the rear edge of thecutter discs 24 and 25, while the body of the fish drops on a conveyor(also not shown). I

The pivot points of the back supports 33 and 34 are, contrary to theillustrated embodiment, suitably selected in such a manner that upon anincreasing distance between the upper edges 16a and 17a of the guiderails 16 and- 17, due to larger size fish, the distance between thecentering point 19 and the back supports 33 and 34 will also increase.According to another not illustrated embodiment this distance may bemade variable by arranging the centering point movably along itslongitudinal axis against the force of a spring.

It is understood that the invention shall neither be restricted to theillustrated and described device for gn'pping a fish, nor to itsemployment for severing the heads of fish from their bodies, but mayalso be used in the same advantageous manner for any processing stepscarried through in the zone of the gills and the abdomen cavity.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of gripping a fish for mechanical dressing, whichcomprises suspending the fish on both sides from below its pectoral finsadjacent its backbone with the head of the fish pointing upwardly,rotating the fish about its longitudinal axis into a position in whichthe gap between its collar bones at the belly side is located betweenthe suspensionplanes, centering the fish in said gap by moving it in thedirection of its belly and by indenting its abdomen by a centering pointin its symmetrical plane between the collar bones and firmly grippingthe centered fish by exerting pressure symmetrically against either sideof its back adjacent its suspension points in a drection towards saidgap.

1. The method of gripping a fish for mechanical dressing, whichcomprises suspending the fish on both sides from below its pectoral finsadjacent its backbone with the head of the fish pointing upwardly,rotating the fish about its longitudinal axis into a position in whichthe gap between its collar bones at the belly side is located betweenthe suspension planes, centering the fish in said gap by moving it inthe direction of its belly and by indenting its abdomen by a centeringpoint in its symmetrical plane between the collar bones and firmlygripping the centered fish by exerting pressure symmetrically againsteither side of its back adjacent its suspension points in a drectiontowards said gap.